A little bit over a hundred years
ago, five young, adventurous women left their monastery in Tutzing, Germany.
They sailed to the Far East - to a strange land they had never seen nor heard.
They sailed in mid-August 1906 and arrived in Manila, on September 14, feast of
the Exaltation of the Cross. From the harbor, they were led through a
fishermen’s district along Moriones street in Tondo. Their first house
consisted of three rooms. The pioneers were Sisters Ferdinanda Hoelzer,
Winfrieda Mueller, Cresencia Veser, Petronila Keller and Novice Alexia
Reudenauer. The prioress general of Tutzing Mother Birgitta Korff, OSB had
received an urgent appeal from the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, Dom
Ambrosius Agius, OSB to please send some of her Sisters to the Philippines,
soon! “Hundreds of thousands of children grow up without any instruction, “he
wrote,” and thousands upon thousands must die without the sacraments.” Catholic
schools were needed to remedy the religious ignorance among the population due
to the lack of priests. The American government imposed separation of Church
and State, and forbade the teaching of religion in the public schools.
At the turn of the century from
1880 to 1906, the Church in the Philippines was in a crisis. Spain which had
colonized the Philippines for 300 years (since 1521), was engaged in a war
against the United States (an emerging power in the West). In 1898 Spain lost
in the war. During the Treaty of Paris Spain ceded the Philippines to the
United States. The United States in turn paid Spain $ 20,000. Spanish priests
and religious left the country in large numbers. The Church faced a vacuum with
only a few Filipino priests and Spanish friars. Within three months - December
3, 1906 - the sisters established a small school with 6 girls and 2 boys, who
could afford to pay some fees. With the small amount of money they earned, they
started a free school with 50 boys and girls from the neighbourhood. The school
was later called St. Scholastica’s College. The missionary Benedictine pioneers
had just one purpose: to spread faith in Jesus Christ.
At the outbreak of World War II,
the Japanese made their triumphal entry to Manila. St. Scholastica’s College
was sealed as “property of the Japanese Imperial Forces.” Parts of the school
were converted into a hospital. Sisters opened the school gates to welcome
people who sought refuge in the concrete buildings of the school. Thus, St.
Scholastica became the sanctuary for people suffering from the terrors of war.
But on the fateful day of February 13, 1945, an incendiary bomb set St.
Cecilia’s Conservatory of Music on fire. The other buildings followed, and
razed to the ground. St. Scholastica’s buildings were all gone. But by God’s
grace, all the Sisters in the campus were spared.
The Sisters who lived amidst the
ruin of St. Scholastica’s had their vision of the buildings once more rising
from the debris and prayed for the further fulfilment of their missionary
dream.
More schools were founded. Tutzing
sent more sisters to the Philippines. Local vocations began to grow and
flourish. Perhaps this was mainly due to the pioneers’ Christian example and
the way they did their service with great determination and unflagging devotion.
They were missionary Benedictines who put emphasis on choir prayer, lectio
divina, communal life and communal apostolate.
St. Scholastica’s College has
become particularly well-known for its Music Education and Women’s
Studies. The Conservatory has educated many pianists and music
teachers, and continues to extend scholarship programs for poor but talented
students. It has established a niche in the cultural history of Manila and
continues to be active in the region’s cultural events. St. Scholastica’s
College is considered a pioneer in Women’s Studies, not only in the
Philippines but in Asia. The program engages in women’s advocacy, and offers
courses in eco-feminism, women and spirituality, women and development,
gender-fair education and lately, gender studies for men.
Super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan)
plowed across the cluster of islands in the heart of our country. It was one of
the strongest tropical cyclone to hit land anywhere in the world in recorded
history. It leveled entire villages, and left more than 7,300 people
dead or missing. It displaced more than 4 million people, and damaged more than
one million homes and buildings, including our two colleges, one hospital, and
a retreat / seminar house in Ormoc,Tacloban and Alang-Alang . Ravaged were: St.
Scholastica’s College, Tacloban; Divine Word Hospital, Tacloban; St. Peter’s
Colege, Ormoc; and Alang-Alang Retreat/Seminar House.
DECEMBER 2014. Mother
Adelaida Ygrubay, OSB, subprioress Sister Lydia Villegas, OSB and the rest
of the community transferred to the new Priory House located at the serene cool
place of Tagaytay. The Manila Priory as of 2015 is composed of 170 Sisters
in twenty communities. We serve in 10 schools, 2 immersion communities, 2
hospitals, 3 retreat/seminar centers, 2 retirement homes, and 1 formation
house.
Pope Francis reminds us: “Jesus
teaches us to put the needs of the poor ahead of our own.” While we give
priority to the materially poor, as Jesus did, we take to heart also the
sufferings of the victims of other forms of poverty. Such works today include -
intensifying our work for women, ecology and family evangelization; training
for new ministries to help victims of child abuse, dysfunctional families and
AIDS; venturing into concrete work for farmers like promotion of sustainable
agriculture, facilitating land security and acquisition, reforestation and
preservation of watershed to ensure continuous water supply and soil
conservation for food production.
